Artist Keywords

Blek Le Rat

Blek Le Rat (Born 1951) is active/lives in France, England, United Kingdom.  Blek Le Rat is known for Graffiti art.

Blek le Rat, born Xavier Prou in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris in 1952, was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and the originator of stencil graffiti art.

He began his artwork in 1981, painting stencils of rats on the street walls of Paris, describing the rat as "the only free animal in the city", and one which "spreads the plague everywhere, just like street art". His name originates from a childhood cartoon "Blek le Roc", using "rat" as an anagram for "art".

?Initially influenced by the early graffiti art of New York City after a visit in 1971, he chose a style which he felt better suited Paris, due to the differing architecture of the two cities.  He also stated the influence of New York's Richard Hamilton, who painted large-scale human figures in the 1980s.  Le Rat is credited with being the inventor of the life-sized stencil, as well as the first to transform stencil from basic lettering into pictoral art.

Blek's identity was revealed to Frenc   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 4452 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 232 auction lots for Blek Le Rat (of which 169 auction records sold and 0 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 0 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 0 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by Blek Le Rat as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists Blek Le Rat in 0 of its research Essays. Blek Le Rat has 8 artist signature examples available in our database.

Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for Blek Le Rat available:    Ben Eine,  C215,  Nick Walker,  D Face,  ROA,  Shepard (Sheppard) Fairey,  Seen,  Pure Evil,  Invader,  Carlo Cope 2,  Jef Aerosol,  Paul Insect,  Hush,  Faile,  DALeast,  Dran,  Zevs,  Otavio and Gustavo Os Gemeos,  Swoon,  Herakut,  Mist,  Futura 2000,  John Andrew Perello,  Speedy (Olivier Rizzo) Graphito